GeCA - Memory and history of Italian cuisine
The Geoportal of Food Culture (GeCA) is a project for the collection, production and dissemination of ethno-anthropological data concerning food, conceived and operated by the Central Institute for Intangible Heritage (ICPI) of the Italian Ministry of Culture. Created in 2015 – the year in which EXPO Milano’s official theme was ‘Feeding the planet, energy for life’ – the idea for GeCA initially stemmed from the desire to collect, organize and present what has been written and said over the years about Italy's food heritage. The mission is to transform a fragmented, localized and poorly-known cultural heritage into shared knowledge, based on easily accessible and understandable data. The census, collection, ordering and mapping quickly revealed a new goal: to make the GeCA, which has already become a digital space for conservation, a creative subject, capable of enriching the shared heritage with multimedia content – micro-clips of digital storytelling, stories, etc. – prepared by the ICPI and by the other project partners. Extending, along the way, the possibility of participating to all organizations and private individuals who wish to share their knowledge and collections, stories and memories. This lead to the creation of the Geoportal in its current form, whose many sections tell the story of the kaleidoscopic richness of Italian food heritage: a different and engaging way of describing the cultural vitality of the country.
Intangible heritage - Traditions, knowledge and experiences of Italian cuisine
The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) defines intangible cultural heritage as “traditions or living expressions inherited from our ancestors and passed on to our descendants, such as oral traditions, performing arts, social practices, rituals, festive events, knowledge and practices concerning nature and the universe or the knowledge and skills to produce traditional crafts.” On the importance of intangible cultural heritage, the Ministry of Culture writes: “Intangible heritage guarantees a sense of identity and continuity and encourages respect for cultural diversity, human creativity, sustainable development, as well as mutual respect between the communities themselves and the parties involved.” In Italy, a land of centuries-old traditions and great cultural variety, UNESCO has recognized, among others, the social and anthropological value of the Mediterranean diet, the Vite ad Alberello of Pantelleria (sapling vine cultivation) and the art of the Neapolitan pizza maker, implicitly recognizing the importance of Italian cuisine and food know-how. The GeCA collections are the ‘material’ trace of the immateriality of Italian food heritage: people's stories, traditional events, recipe cards, text, image and audio databases are the living material with which the Geoportal tells the story of Italian food tradition, creating a unique and multifaceted narrative.
Micronarratives - Three-minute tasters of an immense heritage
To illustrate individual experiences, centuries of traditions and knowledge, the Geoportal of Food Culture has chosen to use a specific narrative format to collect and share the stories of those who practise the know-how of Italian cuisine in their daily lives. These digital micro-stories take the form of short films made since 2015. They are the result of a research project aimed at enhancing the ethnographic data of oral culture in terms of time and geography, narrating this complexity in an accessible form. Lasting for around three minutes each, the stories combine personal accounts and contextual information, news on food and wine products, recipes and methods of preparation. A consolidated model, developed by the University of Gastronomic Sciences of Pollenzo and used, among others, by the Friuli-Venezia Giulia Regional Authority to trace its intangible food heritage. The micro-clips are also a starting point for the participation of individuals, who can use this narrative form as a way to communicate their personal experience, combining stories and images. The GeCA is enriched by this new, accessible and easy-to-use tool for building detailed narratives starting from rare and scattered sources.
Partners - GeCA is founded and thrives on sharing and collaboration
The creation of GeCA by the Central Institute for Intangible Heritage served as a catalyst for the interest and commitment of other institutions in the national territory that had already been engaged for years in the collection, organisation and communication of Italian food culture. From the outset, the Geoportal was conceived as a shared space, in which to merge multimedia documents and to be used for the shared programming of information and dissemination. Universities – such as the University of Parma and the University of Gastronomic Sciences in Pollenzo – centres of learning and culture – such as Casa Artusi – or institutions such as the Friuli-Venezia Giulia Regional Authority and associations such as Slow Food have all added their databases and materials, expertise and dedication to improve the mapping project. Opening of the platform to individual participation – which complements the pre-existing participation open to organisations and institutions – will further increase the number of partners and institutions who are part of the project, establishing deeper territorial roots and extending even further within the communities.